Just realised that the O/S rear door on my 53' 406 estate won't open from either the outside nor the inside,when you activate the central locking with your hand on the door panel you can feel the solenoid cluncking but neither handle will open the door,any ideas guys as i can't get to anything to do with the mechanism with the door closed,bit of a catch 22 situation.

Just read a post with the same problem,looks like i'm buggered then,brute force and ignorance.I don't want to damage the door card as it is in the chesnut leather and i should imagine there not easy to come buy so better try and be carefull.

Hi Brett, I had this on donor car a while back and I managed to get the door open ( probably more by luck than judgement though.. )

I unlocked the car with the key, reached into the car and physically made sure all doors were locked with the buttons, then I wound down the drivers window and reached in and locked it manually from inside too.

I then used the key in the lock from outside the car and 'presto' all door were unlocked.

This may not work on yours, but a similar locking/unlocking/key method may eventually get things working.

Initially I removed the door card, which you can on the estate as the seats move to get access to the screws, but wiggling the door rods did nothing at all.....

1999 T4 family wagon, slow as a turd but the kids like it2002 Citroen Xsara Picasso Hdi90 - Dirtied by the kids, Dented by the wife....Sadly sold the 406, best cars I have ever ownedPP2000 user, can help with faults / diagnostics in the Bournemouth area.

Cheers Kelv,
Just tried all that but nada,when you use the remote the inner lock paddle swings back and forth as usual but won't pickup what ever the mechanism is in the lock.I best check when the MOT is due as i can live without it opening as i very rarely take passengers but i assume it'll be an MOT failure.

I still have donor car here, so if you need to replace the mechanism I have one here you can have.

1999 T4 family wagon, slow as a turd but the kids like it2002 Citroen Xsara Picasso Hdi90 - Dirtied by the kids, Dented by the wife....Sadly sold the 406, best cars I have ever ownedPP2000 user, can help with faults / diagnostics in the Bournemouth area.

Cheers Kelv i think i will be needing one,also have you got the landing catch for the rear tailgate (the bit in the rear step) as i tried to adjust mine to stop the tailgate rattling and busted a plastic bit off,it still shuts but rattles even more now!

1999 T4 family wagon, slow as a turd but the kids like it2002 Citroen Xsara Picasso Hdi90 - Dirtied by the kids, Dented by the wife....Sadly sold the 406, best cars I have ever ownedPP2000 user, can help with faults / diagnostics in the Bournemouth area.

Quick update,i went to see a mechanic mate of mine today and described the problem of the door and he said he has had the same problem with many cars in the past and said to try and give the door a whack while operating the central locking,i gave the door a couple of smacks and hey presto it now opens,i'm going to remove the panel now and give the door mechanism a good dose of WD and see how it goes.Giving it a whack sort of made sense as the back doors hardly get used and the mechanism probably gets sticky and it just needed a jolt to free it up.

The problem will be with the deadlocking side of things.It will fail the MOT if the tester cannot open the door,as mine failed last year.The door card comes off easy from the inside with the door shut.Then using a torch,locate the torx screw on the plastic housing,and using a screwdriver etc on the head of the torx screw,give it a few hard hits with a hammer.Try using the remote locking and it should open.I then disconnected the plug to the lock.The window and puddle light still works fine,you just have to lock and unlock the door from the inside.I`m sure i did a post on this with pictures.I`ll have a look and post the link.